Mom accused of murdering kids in Santa Ana asks for death penalty

A woman accused of murdering her own children made her first court appearance Tuesday in a Santa Ana courtroom, asking the judge for the death penalty.

Marilyn Edge, 42, was charged with two felony counts of special circumstances murder on Monday in the deaths of her 13-year-old son Jaelen, who had autism, and her 10-year-old daughter Faith.

When asked by the judge if she would agree to postponing the arraignment hearing to give time for a psychiatric evaluation, she responded, "Only if you promise me the death penalty."

The judge asked her again, and she had the same response. When the judge asked a third time, Edge finally said, "Yes."

Edge came to Orange County from Scottsdale, Ariz., with the her two children. Police say she crashed her gray Honda Accord into poles behind a shopping center in Costa Mesa on Saturday in an apparent suicide attempt. She then tried to strangle herself with an electrical cord as officers smashed the car window and pulled her out.

Edge told authorities about her two children who she left at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Santa Ana.

An Orange County coroner says the children were poisoned. According to court records in the Atlanta area, the father was awarded temporary custody, and she was supposed to drop the children off to the father in Atlanta over the weekend. Instead, she came to Orange County.

Edge's arraignment was postponed until Oct. 25. She was ordered to remain in jail without bail.